Ottawa lawful-access bill could be obstacle to EU-Canada digital trade agreement, European privacy groups say

Ottawa lawful-access bill could be obstacle to EU-Canada digital trade agreement, European privacy groups say MARIE WOOLF OTTAWA PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. A coalition of civil society organizations and digital experts has written to the European Commission warning that Ottawa’s lawful-access bill poses privacy concerns for Europeans and should feature in negotiations on a Canada-EU digital trade agreement. On the eve of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Europe this week, organizations focused on digital rights have written to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and members of the European Parliament, warning that Canada’s bill could force EU companies operating in Canada to weaken encryption and retain the metadata of European users. The letter, whose signatories include European Digital Rights, a collective of more than 50 NGOs across Europe, and Access Now, a global organization defending digital rights, urged the EU to raise the bill during talks on a bilateral digital trade agreement. The proposed trade agreement would deepen the integration of Canada and Europe’s digital economies. “A partner cannot credibly seek deeper digital trade integration while legislating the power to compel European providers to weaken their products in secret,” the letter said. Carney sees chance to tap into Asian, European markets at investment summit Ottawa’s lawful-access bill, known as Bill C-22, would require telecoms, internet companies and other digital service providers to make changes to their systems to give surveillance and monitoring capabilities to police services and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The signatories to the letter, including Danish, Italian and Belgian NGOs, argued for “the removal of Bill C-22’s sweeping surveillance capability and metadata retention mandates.” Mr. Carney will travel to Europe in a bid to forge deeper, trade, investment and digital ties with the EU, and will address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France – part of a strategy to broaden and deepen Canada’s trade relationships in the face of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Last year, Global Affairs Canada carried out a consultation on a possible Canada-EU digital trade agreement. Such a deal could facilitate cross-border data exchanges, and harmonize rules on artificial…